A short discussion note on Educational Services for migrants and refugees
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02 October 2018The fourth workshop in our transnational learning and exchange programme will focus on the theme of “Education Services for migrants and refugees”. This will take place in Oldenburg from 12-15 September 2017. Below a short synthesis of the note.
Education has long been seen as the route for social mobility. Education services (1) across the EU and indeed the world, are all based on the expectation/”promise” that educational attainment will secure integration into society through language, culture, history and work.
In the last 50+ years by the ideology of “meritocracy “put simply, “meritocracy” creates a belief that hard work and aptitude should be the only factors determining your future prospects. On the one hand this has attracted the mainstream political left across the EU as it attacks the idea of position through privilege and position. It has also been very attractive for the center and right mainstream political parties in that it rewards hard work and aptitude thus makes social mobility an individual issue rather than a societal one.
However, despite this strong consensus regarding the purpose of education, what has become increasingly clear is that education is failing a growing number of people. This includes your classic groups such as early school leavers but increasingly also includes groups who are “well qualified “but are unable to secure work that relates to their level of qualification. A recent report by the European Central Bank that focused on the “employment recovery” in the EU since the great crash of 2007/8, found that up to 18% of people who were part of the “employment recovery” were underemployed. What is also very clear from the work of Picketty (2) and others is that social mobility policies have failed to significantly reduce inequality between rich and poor despite 20 years of interventions by successive governments at all levels.
Evidence suggests that social capital and social cohesion(3) have been globally declining over the last decades. Unfortunately, educational institutions often reproduce the same type of dynamics that is prevalent in societies at large. The Council of the EU also reported that “young women and men with a migrant background continue to face major disadvantages in education, on the labor market, and in transition from education to the labor market”(4) .
Nonetheless, despite the considerable obstacles to success, immigrant students are motivated to succeed. Indeed, PISA results have indicated that immigrant students in 14 countries were more likely than non-immigrant students to aspire to be working as professionals or managers by the age of 30; and in 26 others expectations of the two groups were similar (5).
These contextual factors are very important when considering the issue of education for migrants and refugees.
The overall challenge is how to enable educational systems to become more community-centered, systemic, and inclusive in order to close the school achievement gap between native and immigrant students. Here are some of the key issues that have been highlighted through several reports but also very significantly through a series of National Round Tables that brought together stakeholders from national, local, regional government alongside teachers, NGO’s and organisations working with migrant learners (6).
• Ensuring systematic education of teachers within the school. Teachers training on diversity must be improved.
• Ghettoization processes is an issue because schools can choose who they take.
• Collaboration and support between schools, community and parents.
• Raising awareness of inter-culturality among teachers and students.
• Production of leaflets and flowcharts, both for parents and schools.
• Establishing mobile teams for providing support in education and youth work.
• Second language learning is of national benefit.
• The key issue of education of students with migrant background is teacher training.
• Discrimination of teachers, pupils and parents with a migrant background is an issue in schools.
• Contact has to be established between the vocational students with a minority background and business and industry to pave the way for apprenticeships.
• It is important to do more and broader research on what kind of practice is good and should be implemented in the classroom.
• The lack of financial means has decreased the quality of attending to diversity in schools and to work with youngster on non-cognitive skills.
• Recognition of existing skills.
• Dealing with psychological trauma and specific health issues.
• Inclusion of unaccompanied minors in the education system.
• Steps towards monitoring and evaluation of migrant education need to be improved.
• It is crucial for students to be able to follow lessons in the language of instruction; a lack of comprehension may leave them feeling stressed, anxious, or bored. It may eventually lead to behavioural problems and failure at school.
• It is crucial that schools support immigrants’ continued use and study of their mothertongue.
• Make use of the rapidly growing cohort of highly educated second-generation young adults in Europe as mentors.
The full text and addisional resources are available here:
Notes:(1) In the workshop we will be focusing in informal and formal education BUT this will not include vocational training or any routes focused on entry into labour market or setting up a business. These aspects have already been covered in the workshop in Vantaa.(2) Inglehart, R, Postmodernisation, authority and democracy; in P. Norris(ed.) Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Government, OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford, 1999.(3) Pharr, S.J. and R.Putnam (eds), Disaffected Democracies: What’sTroubling the Trilateral Countries?, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2000(4)Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on the participation and social inclusion of young people with emphasis on those with a migrant background. 3201st Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council meeting, Brussels, 26 and 27 November 2012(5) OECD (2015). Helping immigrant students to succeed at school – and beyond(6) SIRIUS was contracted by the EC to undertake a series of National round table discussions on the theme of “Education of children with a migrant background”. These round table discussions took place in 12 member states: Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Flanders, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain.
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